Minor correction: the Reichert/Burner race was just 2 years ago.

>Minor correction: the Reichert/Burner race was just 2 years ago.

My fault in editing. It's been fixed.

I really do not care much who you vote for. I disagree with much of your reasoning, but the one that upsets me is your voting for the super of public education. Yes, the WASL is useful, but do you really believe that the WASL will produce the kind of creative problem solving that will keep up with China? Yes the WASL has its place but to focus on the test is to visualize schools as factories filling boxes. If the box is smudged, full of the wrong stuff, or a little light in math, never mind the arts or languages, it's kicked off the belt to go no farther. Do you really think that is the way schools should work? Do you really think a 1000 CEO's, senators, or writers would all pass the test? If not, then the question is what makes for a successful person and how do we teach it?

Adexterc: Thanks for your comments. You have set up a straw man in your arguments about the WASL. No one believes the WASL, of and by itself,
will make the American economy more competitive. Nor could many CEOs, elected officials, and others pass it. Of course it is not comprehensive and does not cover much important subject matter.

However, it is apparent that our state's public schools are not preparing students adequately. The dropout rate is high. Many high-school graduates, entering college or junior college, must take remedial courses
before beginning the regular curriculum. Others, entering the job market,
have been found to be functional illiterates or not able to make simple calculations. Our public schools kids have been dumbing down over a continuing period. The WASL, No Child Left Behind, charter schools, home schooling and other measures have been aimed at upgrading student performance.

In adulthood, people are forced to meet performance standards all the time.
If they cannot meet them, they lose their jobs or are stuck at the bottom rung. The WASL is one attempt to establish such standards. Where it is imperfect, it can be revised. But we have seen what happens without
operational performance standards.

What makes for a successful person and how do we teach it? I suspect there would be agreement that hard work and rigorous educational preparation contribute to individual success. Performance standards help us measure how our kids are progressing on that path.

I believe you overlooked TB's stronghold position on abstract math at the expense of many in this state that want traditional methods brought back ( the kind of math that a generation was taught - the same generation that put a US man on the moon ).

I pray that she is NOT re-elected !

We can only hope that the voters in this state ( exclude the unions, teachers and poor who exist off of benefits ) are smart enough to toss Chris !

GV_Ranch: Resolution 362... an act of war against Iran. Read about it. It was authored by Israel's interest group AIPAC, not Americans... 8000 rich Israeli lobbyists pushed to get it supported. How can our congress be so active in pushing for war based on a foreign country's lobby? Something is very wrong. This resolution is a familiar effort by Israel to drag USA into yet another war. Regardless of the merits of HR 362, your accusation that AIPAC are not Americans but "rich Israeli lobbyists" is patently offensive. Or perhaps you are with Robin Hayes, Nancy Pfotenhauer, and Sarah Palin... not all Americans are "real" Americans?

Ted: In adulthood, people are forced to meet performance standards all the time. If they cannot meet them, they lose their jobs or are stuck at the bottom rung. This may be true in theory, but in practice, I don't think it happens as often as it should. It certainly doesn't seem to happen nearly often enough in the managerial and executive ranks. That having been said, yes — standards are an essential part of education. Is WASL the correct set and implementation of standards? I'm not so sure.

Ted Van Dyk’s reasoning for voting for Dino Rossi is specious.

First, on the issue of raising taxes, the vast majority of money in Gregoire’s budget has gone to education. Voters approved by initiative smaller class sizes and better teacher pay. Gregoire recognizes correctly that investment in a strong education system is the engine for economic development and innovation in our state. Perhaps some choose to exist in a fantasy world where these things can be funded by some great credit card in the sky. She also implemented a gas tax which was also later approved by voter initiative. As for the viaduct, I agree – Gregoire fumbled on that issue.

Now, let’s look at Dino Rossi’s transportation plan. First, he claims that he can build an 8-lane bridge across 520 for less money than the 6-lane bridge under the DOT proposal. This makes no sense, never mind the fact that the 8-lane bridge is strongly opposed by local residents. Second, he claims he won’t need to raise taxes for his transportation project because he will be able to take the money out of the general fund. Most of the money in the general fund goes to education and health care. What specifically does Mr. Rossi plan to cut? He won’t say. Third, his plan underestimates the costs so much that it has been lambasted by independent critics and transportation experts across the state as “fantasy,” and “divorced from reality.” Is this an example of how Rossi is “prepared to make taxing and spending decisions accordingly?”

The notion that the deal Gregoire made with the tribes is “more serious” than Rossi’s illegal BIAW fundraising is ridiculous. If it was so bad, why was there almost no protest at the time the deals were made from anyone in either party? Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna said the compacts and negotiations were entirely legal.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008284306_gregoiretribes19.html

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/372187_mckenna25.html

It is Dino Rossi who is under subpoena for his role in illegal BIAW fundraising activities. Van Dyk claims Gregoire would be unable to say no to interest groups that supported her. Does he believe that Rossi will do better? As a state senator he voted the BIAW’s position 99% of the time.

Forbes Magazine ranked Washington state as the third best state to do business. The Pew Center on the States ranked Washington state one of the three best managed states in the country and gave our state government a grade of A-. Governing Magazine named Gregoire Public Official of the Year. And a Financial Times report stated that Washington has fared through the current economic crisis 12th best out of the 50 states. 250,000 jobs were added to the state economy during her tenure and job creation rates remain better than the national average.

Gregoire is a proven leader who deserves reelection.

Most disconcerting about Mr. Van Dyk's choice for Governor is the narrow criteria on which it was based, resembling far too much the simplistic and transparent "at least he won't raise taxes" reasoning of The Seattle Times.

Frankly, his vote seems to be far more against Governor Gregoire than for Dino Rossi, and that's sad. The "platform traditional to his party" on which Mr. Rossi has run is so out of touch with the mainstream in Washington State that it's laughable. Among other things, he's against gay rights, the minimum wage, and a woman's right to choose; for deregulating the health insurance industry; and still thinks global warming is a made-up political ploy! How do these things figure into Mr. Van Dyk's reasoning?

I do agree that Governor Gregoire needs to more often say "no," and attribute her failure to do so largely on the closeness of the 2004 election and her natural tendency to overvalue negotiation and compromise, especially when it comes to the Legislature. That will change in a second term as the times demand it and she fully embraces what it means to be Governor.

As for Mr. Rossi, he will immediately begin to work towards a second term, and saying no to BIAW and its deep pockets will be out of the question. And I am far, far more concered about what they will ask of him, and what it will mean for this state, than of anything asked of Governor Gregoire.

I also have to question the bizarre notion that violating the law, as Mr. Rossi and his friends at BIAW are alleged to have done, is somehow less severe than Governor Gregoire having taken a policy position with which Mr. Van Dyk disagrees. His gross overreaction when BIAW first interjected the issue of tribal gaming into the election has apparently not been tempered, despite the reams of information since then that support the legitimacy of the Governor's decision.

Finally, I assume that the post by GV_Ranch was only meant by comparison to give Mr. Van Dyk's some credibility. Anyone whose vote is based on a bit of lawyer bashing and "I know a person who worked for her, and he says she's icky," would be best not to publicize it.

Let me support Benjamin Lukoff's comments about "real Americans." AIPAC's members are Americans and not "Jewish lobbyists." You need not agree with
HR362 to recognize that its sponsors are Americans who have every right to put it forward.

I figure I have very few words to use here comments cannot be long. I agree with much that was said about the WASL but the unintended consequence of the focus on the test is that it drives out a great deal of valuable, untested stuff. Further, we double our knowledge base about every 180 days, but much of the increase is not accepted by everybody. Can you imagine a question about My Lai, safe-sex, genetic engineering on a test such as the WASL. The test inherently looks backwards at things already passed. It cannot lookk to the present

Ted Van Dyk is obviously correct on the fiscal facts facing the next Governor. Neither Gregoire or Rossi will be able to pursue "big new spending and tax-cut initiatives." But it's hard to believe that Gregoire will be able to convince the legislature to enact big new tax increases to appease traditional Democratic supporters. So Van Dyk's logic that "she would be constitutionally unable to say no to interest groups she has served avidly to date" is faulty. The fight will be over where to make major cuts in state spending. Here's where the next Governor's priorities will be tested. Gregoire's clear priorities are for education, health, the (global) environment, and the state economy (one state not two), and are far superior to Rossi's vague mumblings about thousands of cuts.

I'd like to change the subject here and draw on Mr. Van Dyk's knowledge of election workings. Mr. Van Dyk, with all the posturing by the McCain camp on possible election fraud, if he's defeated by Obama by a narrower margin than you predict, will he dare cry foul? After all, not even Nixon dared after Kennedy stole the show.

-Political

WASL attacks the problem at the wrong end. Teachers who know or can guess at the "rubrics" that will govern the grading of essays teach the principles, not necessarily of good writing, but of the rubrics. Teachers who don't have a clue how a test will be graded fail their students and the students fail. Only when more rigorous standards are applied to teachers will students' true performance be measured and improved. Even then, subjects like government (what used to be called "Civics"), geography, history, literature, art and music will, by necessity, be neglected. It may be fun to watch Jay Walking on the Tonight Show, but its also chilling as one realizes it is not really a joke.
Arizonan

Gregoire is already making noises about an income tax. When government leaders so mismanage our tax dollars that they can spend a surplus into a deficit (last year's) and then propose even more taxes, that is a sign of dysfunctional government. I would support an income tax if it totally replaced the sales and property taxes (two very regressive tax models). The current proposal, however, is to just ad an income tax to all the others. One more tax to raise. Swell. Van Dyk is right. Gregoire can not say no to anyone but the overburdened taxpayers of this state. Time for a change.

Political: I don't think the Presidential election will be sufficiently close to allow any candidate to blame defeat on fraud. Since Florida, 2000, Democrats in particular have been quick to find fraud and, now, Republicans have raised the same cry. Fact is, in each national election perhaps 1 percent of total ballots get spoiled or uncounted---not because of fraud but because of Murphy's Law, glitches, etc. There probably is some fraud, in more than one place, but I suspect neither party is virtuous on that count. Remember JFK's miracle victory in 1960 when late-night Chicago votes carried Illinois for him and, thus, the election? I expect this to be a relatively clean election.

By all means, we should vote in a republican governor at the same time we likely get a democratic president and democratic majority. Good thinking, Ted! That should really create a good working relationship between the federal and state systems right when we go into the economic tanker.

Apparently your schtick is to balance the budget while at the same time, you vote for a presidential candidate who will support keysian-style economics of spending on domestic programs to spur economic growth. Are you at odds with yourself? What is the point of balancing the budget when the economic problem (brought on by republican deregulation of the markets philosophy)is so dire, that just tightening our belts will only deepen the recession?

Ted, you've got to stop cherry-picking your issues when it comes to Gregoire/Rossi. Rossi is a light-weight environmentalist, anti-choice ego-oriented politician from the WRONG party. Gregoire may not be our best governor ever, but there is hardly a good reason to kick her out either. I haven't seen incompetency or deep corruption out of her. You're just ticky tacky.

"I haven't seen incompetency or deep corruption out of her."

I have - in addition to the smelley deal she cut with tribes on gambling, paid any attention to how she panders to public sector unions? They demand and receive fat wage increases despite the looming $3.2 billion shortfall in the next biennium.

And how she's failed to actually get things done (520 bridge, Viaduct, new ferries) when those in other states can and do?

14-months ago, the Interstate 35W bridge across the Mississippi in the Twin Cities collapsed. It was rebuilt and reopened in 339 days.

Anyone care to calculate the number of days since the Nisqually Quake weakened the Viaduct such that its replacement became an imperative?

Leaders get things done, get necessary projects built - craven politicians pander to special interests, unions and tribes among them, who then offer up huge campaign contributions to keep in office those who feather their nests.

Which best describes ChrisTINE Gregoire, a creature of, by, and for big government and the interests who benefit from it?

The Piper

Ted Van Dyke, good piece. It will probably influence at least one of my votes.

I agree with your reservations about John McCain but please reconsider this portion of what you wrote:

"..not a man who grasps nuance or ambiguity. Obama has lived it."

A man who has lived nuance and ambiguity? it must be an endorsement (because you voted for him) but no one can describe that as an enthusiastic endorsement. I think you should have said more. Or maybe less.

Apparently dbreneman hasn't tuned in to the Governor's race. In the last debate, Gregoire said emphatically that she doesn't support a state income tax. Now I disagree with her on that, a position she's taken since her first election for Governor, but I believe her. There simply is no "current proposal..to just add an income tax to all the others." Nor, unfortunately, is there one to trade an income tax for reductions in other taxes.

Nuance and ambiguity: You need only read and hear what McCain has to say and it becomes obvious that this is a man who sees things in clear yes-and-no terms. Our post-World War II experiences--in Korea, Vietnam, Central America, Somalia, Haiti, the Balkans, Iraq I and II, Afghanistan, the Middle East, in dealing with terrorism and regional conflicts---all have required leadership going beyond a win-the-war mentality. In many cases military involvement was a bad idea. In others, only a limited involvement was justified. Others required a blend of diplomatic, economic, and even covert efforts.

Obama, biracial, raised across cultures, facing personal problems and challenges not encountered by many others, has nuance and ambiguity in his bones. His leadership style, by all accounts, involves asking questions and
seeking answers that go beyond the obvious ones. I want a leader who understands nuance and ambiguity and does not seek simple, direct solutions to problems which cannot be addressed that way.

Ted Van Dyk, which presidents in our history (maybe just back to 1900) do you credit with nuance and ambiguity?

Having s SENSE of nuance and ambiguity...not necessariy being nuanced and ambiguous themselves: Certainly FDR, Eisenhower, JFK (sometimes), Nixon
(sometimes), Bush I (sometimes) and Clinton (occasionally). Even Reagan, at times, showed this sense in framing his policies.

In the past 40 years, at least, Washington has never had a Conservative Republican governor. There's a reason for that.

I disagree with Ted's choice for Governor and I'd contest some of his facts about the Gregoire administration.

Gregoire has been one of the best governors ever. Her one weakness: communication and sales.

Those things matter. We're told her opponent is a born salesman. I'm not sold on him. Rossi has run a deeply cynical campaign that is long on spin and short on grounding in facts.

Four years ago Rossi pitched himself as a compassionate conservative in the mold of George W. Bush. Now he runs as a change agent. I'm not buying it - the policies he promotes are generally recycled from an old GOP playbook and the people behind him wrote the playbook.

He appears to be Sarah Palin in drag.

The idea of voting Obama - Rossi is totally self-defeating. It reminds me of the book 'Whats the matter with Kansas? that reviews why people vote against their own self-interest. In this case its "Whats the matter with Ted?" If we want to fix our transportation infrastructure then we will need federal money and local and state consensus. Do you think the federal government (which will probably consist of a demo majority in Congress and hopefully a D President) are going to reach out when we dump our perfectly good Democratic Governor? And Ted, you act as though a Governor can wave a magic wand and just make transportation projects happen, and do it all on her own. Take a civics class. She needs permits from a local mayor who wants something else...he can hang the Governor up for years...and the federal environmental review process takes years. Minneapolis was done faster because it was an emergency and the environmental review process was expedited.

Maybe Ted wants to throw out his vote but I'm going D all the way..with the exception of Rob McKenna who has been doing an excellent job. He is the only Republican that has actually displayed some intelligence...

Dino Rossi is just another George Bush/Karl Rove in waiting. We don't need the BIAW running this state. And the Governor's requirement to develop a compact with the Tribes was mandated by the federal government. Don't like Indian gaming...? Well that one was brought to us by JOHN MCCAIN. Yes it was his federal legislation that brought us gaming. Quit blaming the Governor for an action brought to us by Republicans.

Thank goodness for Knute Berger. He is the one writet that makes Crosscut worth reading.

Excellent summary. I just stumbled into this website and figured I'd have to comment. I recognize a lot of the authors as I'm a local born and raised. It's an honor to contribute here.

First of all, I rarely get excited about any candidate because they so often fail to impress, but Rossi is an exception. If he wins, I am quite sure he'll do great things for our state. His background, work ethic, and everything about him says "winner". His opponent on the other hand--another story. I assume voters are smart when they vote, so Gregoire will likely lose. Her debate performance speaks for itself. My word, all that lady can do is say George Bush over and over again, and her campaign is just full of nothing but cruel insults. She has no gameplan at all, just a rotten lawyer out smearing the other side. I'm not sure how many people remember that as our state Attorney General, Gregoire's incompetence at the simple task of filing a legal response cost taxpayers over $20M.

Peter Goldmark. About 5 years ago I sat next to him on a flight from Taiwan to Seattle. He was there selling some kind of wheat product. He was not only a really nice guy, and very intelligent, but a perfect fit for the job. After our long conversation I thought to myself that he'd be a great civic leader. Peter, good luck!

Darcy Burner. She's a flake, just like Reichert. I have to vote for one of them because I live in their district. I emailed the Burner campaign in July, when our congress was actually considering Resolution 362 which calls for an act of war against Iran (immediate naval blockade, etc). Our media was silent, as usual, this being an AIPAC-authored resolution on behalf of Israel. Anyone reading this heard of it? I'll paste wiki links below. 8000 lobbyists of Israel pushed for it. Resolution 362 is not just the most disgusting chapter in an already ignominious, warmongering history of AIPAC, it highlights everything that's wrong with our government because both liberal democrats and conservative republicans initially agreed to "co-sponsor" it. How can our congress push for war to begin with? And how can they do it based on a foreign country's lobby? Something is very wrong, very wrong. I was hoping Darcy Burner would be a sensible voice and tell me that no, she'd not support this unwarranted, nonsense resolution.

Darcy Burner's office responded and said she couldn't decide if she'd support that or not--she'd decide after the election! Lost my vote. Reichert was just as bad--he wrote back and said that basically Iran is part of the "Axis of Evil" and we'd better pass this resolution because you know, there are terrorists in your closet, and Iran is going to have WMD. I've never been impressed with Reichert to begin with. I grew up in Kent and went to school with one of the early victims of our Green River Killer. I watched for year after year the so-called police unable to catch this serial killer, then to add insult to injury Reichert ran on a platform of being some kind of hometown hero 50 deaths later and Ridgeway was in jail. So it's a tough choice here but I'll probably go with Reichert based on some of the concerns you outlined. Darcy is another feeble pawn of a foreign lobby--worthless to all but the warmonger elite. I don't think I'd ever vote for her.

Resolution 362, later shelved sponsoring democrats admitted they hadn't even read it.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/If-an-Increased-Sanction-R-by-Cheryl-Biren-Wrigh-080630-617.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Resolution_362

Rob McKenna--I fully support him! He is excellent! I spent years watching him on the local TVW channel in council meetings. This guy should be president someday. Fair, smart, ethical, and a real leader.

Obama/McCain, I won't throw my vote away on either of them. Identical in too many ways. In debates they spoke at length about military conflict with Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and on and on. Perhaps my experience living in Europe and traveling extensively through the former Soviet Union before it went bankrupt in the late 1980s taught me about unnecessary military expenditure. Folks, we can't afford to keep attacking other countries, and we have to ask "why are we doing this?". I'll choose a third party like many others and trust that eventually we can become like so many other nations (including Canada by the way) who have several established political parties. Aside from that I think Obama will win Washington State anyway, and I'm cautiously optimistic about how he may lead.

Rossi is a classic Bush Republican. His guiding principles are short-sighted greed, consolidation of power, and cronyism. Not what this state needs.